The Forever War

Jan 29, 2009

brian rated it

Recommends it for: donald; nobody with a weak stomach

i was initially irritated by filkins refusal to widen focus and take in the broader picture, y’know, the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind the iraq war -- i wanted a top-down history starting with the geo-political chessboard and ending with boots on the ground. i was quick to realize i had put my own demands, the demands of a history book, on what is something entirely different. filkins knows that, generally speaking, the participants in wars (even in the age of internet, tivo, and cell phone) do not hav...morei was initially irritated by filkins refusal to widen focus and take in the broader picture, y’know, the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind the iraq war -- i wanted a top-down history starting with the geo-political chessboard and ending with boots on the ground. i was quick to realize i had put my own demands, the demands of a history book, on what is something entirely different. filkins knows that, generally speaking, the participants in wars (even in the age of internet, tivo, and cell phone) do not have access or privilege to knowledge of the events in which they participate. this is the iraq war he presents.

even more impressive than filkins’s balls (so big you could attach ‘em to a crane and use ‘em to knock over the chrysler building) is the intellectual confidence to admit he just doesn’t know what the fuck is going on. while nearly every pundit/reporter/activist/partisan gobbles down loads of friedman/huntington/lewis/etc and claims to understand the ‘arab mind’, the 'arab street', the nature of freedom, and what the founding fathers would have done, filkins hangs in the ‘known unknown’ camp: he waits and watches.

it’s tough, as I write this in 2009 for those who supported the war to defend their position. and tougher, perhaps, for those who were 100% opposed to it to understand that there was a noble side to this thing. not necessarily a noble side to the bush administration’s motives, but a noble byproduct in the removal of saddam hussein. y'know, the guy who gassed tens of thousands of innocent kurds, threw tens of thousands of his own people into torture chambers and rape rooms, waged one of the bloodiest and most pointless wars of the last century (with absolutely no result other than millions of corpses), invaded kuwait, encouraged suicide bombings by offering cash rewards to the families, shot at planes in the no-fly zone, and was set to leave his demented creation to sons who were zealous practitioners of rape torture and murder.

one aspect of president dipshit’s legacy is that, once again, american intervention has been totally and thoroughly discredited. and for the most part this is a good thing. but, still, american intervention, preferably with NATO or some other alliance, could have cut short the rwandan genocide. after taking its thumb out of its ass, when america finally committed, it took down milošević and ended that genocide. and it sickens me that congress didn’t even bother to seriously debate sudan. but, these are not easy questions, and after reading filkins’s book it feels even more maniacal to subject anyone to the shit he describes. but the triumph of the book -– after the insider's view of combat (perhaps the most harrowing i've ever read) and terrific character studies of marines, insurgents, extremists, iraqi civilians, chalabi, bremer, etc -– is that i can only imagine the most rabid partisan, the most extreme wingnut of the right or left, refusing to rethink –- if only for a brief period -– all they felt certain about before.

(less)

like 21 likes

· see review

Dec 29, 2011

Chris rated it

· review of another edition

When you invade and break countries, bad shit usually happens.

Doesn't always have to, but the dial leans that way.

Good shit happens too, but it needs nurturing, time, and a whole pile o' shit-ass luck, especially when what was broken is used to seeing it all go down through a different set of goggles.

The bad shit needs little prompting—it's nature's wily stunted bastard child hopped up on Skittles™ and chuffing smoke.

Be very careful when you break shit lik...moreWhen you invade and break countries, bad shit usually happens.

Doesn't always have to, but the dial leans that way.

Good shit happens too, but it needs nurturing, time, and a whole pile o' shit-ass luck, especially when what was broken is used to seeing it all go down through a different set of goggles.

The bad shit needs little prompting—it's nature's wily stunted bastard child hopped up on Skittles™ and chuffing smoke.

Be very careful when you break shit like countries. Try and think things through a bit. Prepare for it all going Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie.

'Cause that bad shit, that horrible, nasty bad shit always seems to be just waiting to happen.

* * * * *

Along with Jon Lee Anderson's The Fall of Baghdad, this book occupies the top tier of Iraq War reportage that I've so far partaken of. Following a tense and cacophonous prologue through the darkness-drenched, bullet-riddled environs of insurgent Falluja circa 2004, Filkins—whose survival of one scenario fraught with peril after another comes eventually to take on the appearance of a not-so-minor miracle—warms up the reader with a brief-but-informative glimpse at pre-9/11 Afghanistan and its new Taliban liberators/oppressors. These chiaroscuro slide-show revelations perfectly set the stage for the vignettes from war-torn Iraq that comprise the majority of Forever, leaps back-and-forth through time and across the flat Iraqi desertscape to provide a jigsaw view of the progression of the original conflict between the United States and the army of Saddam Hussein into a sectarian uprising featuring Sunni and Shiite insurgencies and militias in action against the American liberators/oppressors and their native allies. The one common element throughout is death, ofttimes impassionately narrated by Filkins and which offhand manner—especially when used as a brisk end punctuation to the deceased subject's anecdotal depiction—somewhat paradoxically comes to generate a powerful hold upon the reader. This termination of life affects US soldiers, reporters, and contractors, though the vast majority of the dead are citizens of that unlucky land, in many cases simply the victims of having been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As other reviews have pointed out, Filkins does not wade into the politics of invasion and subsequent occupation, though his own anguish, rage, and despair can be detected limning the stories stamped upon the printed page. The lack of an effective US plan to deal with a leaderless realm whose infrastructure had suffered from military strikes and post-invasion looting, the inscrutable nature of the Iraqi populace in their dealings with the Western Power, the nihilistic savagery of the insurgency cells, and the blossoming of razor-wire barriers, blast walls, and military checkpoints as new and alienating features of the urban maze of antebellum Baghdad form strong underlying elements of the collected stories' structure; particularly effective, in my opinion, are the brief interludes in which Filkins describes his daily routine of jogging the banks of the Tigris river near the hotel in which he was established and his interactions with the Iraqi citizens—guards, police, merchants, restauranteurs, children—whose paths he crosses while his running route becomes incrementally walled-off from the coterminous and increasingly dangerous residential neighborhoods. The sad doe-eyes of the little girl in The Kiss and the sinister adulthood which surrounds her devastatingly sums up the miasma of post-millennial Iraq in a few snatches of brilliant writing. Chaos and orphans are the commonest offspring of civil warfare; Filkins records their grim proliferation even while allowing the reader to see the attempts by, and admire the courage of, those doughty individuals, American and Iraqi both, who are struggling to craft a more enduring and meaningful legacy for all of the bodies claimed by the violent breaking and remaking of this tripartite Mesopotamian nation. There is little hope on display here, but little is not the same as none.(less)

like 11 likes

· see review

Jun 17, 2009

Lucy rated it

Dexter Filkins, the author of The Forever War, is a New York Times foreign correspondent who covered the middle east from Afghanistan's Taliban rule in 1998 to Iraq through 2006.

I should probably confess right away that I'm not a fan of journalism. I resent the whole idea of getting information from people who are in the business of selling it. I don't know what the alternative would be, but still....it seems like a conflict of interest.

On top of that, there is the issue ...moreDexter Filkins, the author of The Forever War, is a New York Times foreign correspondent who covered the middle east from Afghanistan's Taliban rule in 1998 to Iraq through 2006.

I should probably confess right away that I'm not a fan of journalism. I resent the whole idea of getting information from people who are in the business of selling it. I don't know what the alternative would be, but still....it seems like a conflict of interest.

On top of that, there is the issue of bias. We all have it. I'm not sure it's possible to communicate without it. So, when it's somebody's job to write/talk/share about an issue, I don't believe anyone is completely able to leave it out. It's a lot more obvious to detect when your own bias stands in opposition. I can't read Arianna Huffington or Ann Coulter without some serious eye rolling, but Peggy Noonan? I think she's brilliant. I think she's fair. I can't see her bias as easily, but I'm sure that's because I agree with her, most of the time.

I must agree with Dexter Filkins too because I had a very hard time detecting any bias in his book. The Forever War doesn't give a chronological time line of the war on terror, or even a history or reason for the conflict up to this point. Instead, the book's focus is much more narrow. Using small snippets from his observations, conversations and the various situations he found himself in as an American journalist living in a fundamental Islam dominated middle east, the war takes its own shape without much molding from the author. Through Filkin's reporting, the war is viewed from many various perspectives. The Taliban's, Afghani women, American soldiers, American politicians, American ambassadors, Iraqi Sunni's, Iraqi Shiites, Kurds, hardliners, moderates, families, women, children. Iraqis as gracious hosts. Iraqis blind to American goodwill. Iraqis determined to keep their country in chaos. Iraqis as the neighbor or friend you wish you had.

As he sometimes traveled under the protection of the US Forces, he was able to observe their behavior too. Like their Iraqi counterparts, soldiers and military leaders ranged from the truly valiant, noble even, to complete jerks. But, because he told individual stories and reported moments in time as they happened, very few of his reports are tinged with the burden of hindsight or the sensationalism that I so loathe. It's incredibly present. A snapshot with words.

Filkins manages to keep himself out of his reporting most of the time as well. Even when he's part of the story, such as when he runs in shorts that he knows bothers Muslim modesty, it's not about his running or even his legs, it's about the Iraqi guard's humor, generosity and discomfort. When he's not part of the story, his presence is hardly noticeable. For example, he doesn't editorialize an interview with an Iraqi jihadist. The emotion, that spills out of the pages is one of the jihadist's single-mindedness and hatred for the infidels, not of Filkin's response. No apologies. No excuses. When he's interviewing a 19 year-old American soldier from Pearland, Texas, the pages fill with the soldier's optimism, hope and unquestioning obedience to his superiors, not Filkin's east-coast, Harvard educated sensibilities.

Sometimes, the book becomes more than raw reporting. Sometimes, Filkins allows his own confusion and conflicting emotions to tell this story too. Like the time he gets lifted into an angry anti-American mob, and his certain soon-to-be death, but before any harm befalls him, he is pulled back into the safety of his car by his Iraqi driver. Gratitude for one Iraqi and fear of another. Conflict.

If there should ever be required reading on the present day conflict in Iraq, The Forever War should hold a place at the top of that list. While it is a book that no doubt Filkins hopes will sell, I don't think he's trying to sell a view of this war to the left or to the right. Instead, like a meaningful piece of art, he captures what war is - past, present and future: hope, corruption, fear, courage, sacrifice, weariness, destruction, honor, death and change - all together. Forever.(less)

like 12 likes

· see review

Nov 25, 2008

Buck rated it

Shelves: pro-patria-mori

Technically, The Forever War is a work of reportage - magnificent reportage, in fact - but that's not all it is. For one thing, Filkin's tone is at times more personal, more anguished, than conventional journalism usually allows. For another, the cumulative impact of the pieces is beyond the literary reach of your average hack reporter. I'd suggest, then, that it belongs to that growing subgenre known as survivor literature: traveller's tales, in effect, brought back from a netherworld of hum...moreTechnically, The Forever War is a work of reportage - magnificent reportage, in fact - but that's not all it is. For one thing, Filkin's tone is at times more personal, more anguished, than conventional journalism usually allows. For another, the cumulative impact of the pieces is beyond the literary reach of your average hack reporter. I'd suggest, then, that it belongs to that growing subgenre known as survivor literature: traveller's tales, in effect, brought back from a netherworld of human suffering.

Filkins spent years in post-invasion Iraq, living entirely outside the Green Zone, and he got to know the country as well as any non-Arabic speaking Westerner could be expected to - and much better, I'd guess, than just about any American official you could name. What's great about Filkins, though, is his intellectual modesty. He's not afraid to show us his sheer, lip-twiddling confusion in the face of some intractable bit of Iraqi reality, and to use his own incomprehension as an index of the wider myopia besetting the occupation.

One instance among dozens: Filkins is interviewing an insurgent whose brother has allegedly been murdered by a rival faction. Out of nowhere, the leader of that other group comes along and sits down at the next table. Filkins senses an 'animal tension' in the air and readies himself for a gunfight. The two adversaries spring to their feet and then, with all the fake bonhomie of Long Island party girls, they set to hugging each other and promising to get together some time. Here, as with so many of Filkin's vignettes, there's a sort of invisible, authorial 'wtf' hovering between the lines.

Or take his portrait of Ahmad Chalabi, the slippery political operator and former darling of the neo-cons. Filkins honestly doesn't know what to make of him. Is he an American stooge? An Iranian puppet? A political genius or a cynical rogue? For Filkins, resting as he does in a negative capability rare among journalists, that very ambiguity is the point:

It wasn't just that he was brilliant, or nimble, or ruthless, or fun. When I looked into Chalabi's eyes and saw the doors and mirrors opening and closing, I knew that I was seeing not just the essence of the man but of the country to which he'd returned. L'etat, c'est lui. Chalabi was Iraq.

Whatever your political convictions, whatever your views on Iraq, they're going to be, at the very least, recalibrated by The Forever War. On the one hand, nobody but the most indefatigable cheerleader of the war could fail to be revolted by the sadistic lunacy unleashed in the aftermath of the invasion. Of course, we've always known about the Shi'ite death squads with their electric drills and the Islamist nutjobs with their snuff films. But Filkins makes this vast collective nightmare all the more real and terrible by putting faces to the names and sketching in all the ghastly little human details. It's hard-going at times, but it's absolutely essential, I think.

On the other hand, anyone espousing the more simple-minded pacifism of the purblind left is bound to be equally troubled by Filkin's reporting. And maybe, just maybe, the supposedly humane middle ground where many of us huddle nervously is not a viable option, either. I don't know, I really don't. But neither does Filkins. That's one reason I trust him, and one of the many reasons I admire him.(less)

like 18 likes

· see review

Sep 25, 2008

Jim Coughenour rated it

Shelves: politicalinsight

I have a shelf of books on Iraq & Afghanistan – mostly unfinished because the absurdity and the carnage, the futility and mendacity, are too dispiriting and I have to put them down. Filkins has written something different, a first person account of what it's like to be in the midst of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens – his book is a series of vignettes, carefully observed and plainly written. It pretty much avoids the political background and concentrates on the foreground, people he knows, ...more

like 6 likes

· see review

Apr 04, 2009

Naeem rated it

Recommended to Naeem by: John Hickey (Ithaca College librarian)

I withheld a star despite my belief that this book MUST be read; read today.

Filkins writes about his experiences as a war reporter in Afghanistan and Iraq (mostly the book is about Iraq). It is composed of short, medium, and long vignettes. He makes no effort to connect them.

It works as fiction works, implicitly. Mainly Filkins describes his situations and leaves his readers the job of interpreting. Some of these are as mundane as jogging along the Tigris river. Oth...more

like 4 likes

· see review

Sep 24, 2008

Jesse rated it

The best book yet on Iraq, from a Taliban execution in 1998 to the WTC, where Filkins sees an intestine lying on the ground, to Iraq, where an attempt to get the story gets a Marine killed. Visceral, smart, funny, and pained (the acknowledgements mention, in passing, that these experiences destroyed his marriage), with sweeping, memorable images of devastation and meaningless absurdity mixed with short-short stories--a fitting equal to Herr's Dispatches, and also sneakily alluding, I would guess...more

like 2 likes

· see review

May 20, 2009

Steve rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, history, journalism, war

Terrific. My only complaint is that the story ends before more current events, such as the Surge, take place. (I’d love to read Filkins on-the-ground take on that.) However, there is a moment late in the book where Filkins interviews an Iraqi terrorist who is getting more than a bit sick of Al-Qaeda (the "foreigners") killing fellow Iraqis. It's something of a sea change, since the result is an ordered hit against two Al-Qaeda gunmen. I was also hoping for more on Afghanistan, probabl...more

like 2 likes

· see review

Dec 22, 2008

daysgoby rated it

I can't remember who recommended this book, so I don't know who to thank...but I walked away from this book with my mouth open, shaking my head in awe.

This man can *write*. He brought scenes from war-ravaged countries into my living room, and found a way to accentuate both the devastation and the quiet small moments, creating a book that horrifies and educates and gives you hope, all at once.

Really, read this.

like 3 likes

· see review

Jan 29, 2009

Visha Burkart rated it

Recommends it for: Tim, Dad, everyone!

Outstanding war-writing from a respected and talented correspondent/writer. After so many disappointing books written by hacks, Filkins manages to elevate the status of "war-memoir-as-written-by-a-reporter." Filkins does not offer solutions, but he objectively presents a picture of what is going on in the Middle East, what our strengths and weaknesses are, and the devastating fact that there will be no easy resolution to this forever war. Highly recommended; one for your permanent b...moreOutstanding war-writing from a respected and talented correspondent/writer. After so many disappointing books written by hacks, Filkins manages to elevate the status of "war-memoir-as-written-by-a-reporter." Filkins does not offer solutions, but he objectively presents a picture of what is going on in the Middle East, what our strengths and weaknesses are, and the devastating fact that there will be no easy resolution to this forever war. Highly recommended; one for your permanent bookshelf.

A long-time foreign correspondent, Filkins gives a very complete picture of the complex situation in the Middle East. Starting in Afganistan in the late '90s, the book opens with a graphic execution scene in a soccer stadium. Filkins shows the Taliban and the war lords, the Washington power-players, the grimy enlisted men, the informers, the orphans, the wild dogs, the attempts by the military to build beautiful parks and the ineptitude in those types of ideas. I was impressed by Filkins' ability to give credit to others, to admit his own defeats and guilt, to feel frustrated at his country's inability to provide a real picture of what is going on in Iraq and particularly in Baghdad.

I respected this book in part because Filkins does not take credit for any bravery, luck, or victories. He is not an enlisted man, only a reporter, and unlike so many others, he doesn't insinuate that any of their qualities are transferred to him by osmosis. In fact, Filkins gives the impression of having been massively changed for his assignment in the Middle East; perhaps not entirely broken, he is bruised and battered by his experiences, and admits in his acknowledgements that his own home life has suffered because he can't let go. I also respected the excellence of his writing - the language of the book is beautiful yet straightforward, and Filkins has masterful timing - each chapter resulted in a strong emotional reaction from me. I don't often cry when reading, yet I sobbed freely when reading this book, but never more than at the end. (less)

like 1 like

· see review

Jan 15, 2009

Jeremy rated it

I wish there were a six-star rating. I've been reading a lot of Iraq and Afghanistan war books lately and this one is heads and shoulders above all of them. Not because it uncovers any sort of unique secret truths, but because of its artful and engaging prose. Filkins, a NY Times reporter, largely tells his own story of being on the ground in Iraq. By doing so, he gives the reader an entree into the experience that would be impossible if he had used a detached, reporter-like voice. It's well wor...more

like 1 like

· see review

Jan 17, 2009

Clare added it

The Forever War - I had been thinking, it seemed like a long time: I was in high school when we invaded Iraq, I was in college and we were still there, I graduated college and not much has changed, only news coverage of the war has decreased as we've moved on to other wars. But since Dexter Filkins starts his book in Afghanistan, and it looks like we'll be there until the end of time, too, you get the sense that he could keep adding chapters to this book until it grew to a multi-volume set. As...more

like 1 like

· see review

Feb 17, 2009

Garrett rated it

Dexter Filkins, a New York Times reporter, spent somewhere in the neighborhood of a decade reporting on developments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He watched the current US wars unfold. In The Forever War, Filkins reports his stories in bits and pieces. He likes to be where the action is and find out what people are thinking and doing. He talks to soldiers, Iraqi citizens, warlords, political leaders, and insurgents. Amidst all the chaos he describes, Filkins goes to great pains (often literally) to ...more

like 1 like

· see review

Nov 13, 2008

Map rated it

What an amazing book, one of the best I've read this year. Dexter Filkins makes the Iraq War—the experience of war itself— visceral and immediate. You smell the cordite, the burning flesh, the stink of fear; feel the anxiety, the exhilaration, the sorrow, the anger, and the numbness. He doesn't try to make sense of the insanity; he records it as he saw it, offering background and context that no newspaper story or radio report, by its very nature, can relay.

A reader emailed Filkin...more

like 1 like

· see review

Sep 13, 2008

Laura marked it as to-read

Shelves: to-read-adult-nonfiction

Did anyone else read the review of this in the NYT Book Review this weekend? Here's a glimpse of the review: "It is not facetious to speak of work like that of Dexter Filkins as defining the 'culture' of a war. The contrast of his eloquence and humanity with the shameless snake-oil salesmanship employed by the American government to get the thing started serves us well."

Or this:

"The work Filkins accomplishes in 'The Forever War' is one of the most effecti...more

like 1 like

· see review

Nov 19, 2008

Kathleen Gilroy rated it

Gripping, horrifying grounds-eye view of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Filkins was the New York Times correspondent for both wars and his book is a series of beautifully written set pieces about what life was like on streets for civilians, soldiers, and journalists. He seems to risk his life to get the story and thank goodness he lived to tell this tale.

like 1 like

· see review

Aug 05, 2011

Urey Patrick added it

Shelves: terrorism, military-modern-era

This reads more like a stream of consciousness journal of experiences, interactions, observations during the author's several years in Iraq and, to a lesser degree, Aghanistan. He lives among the inhabitants and writes nicely of them and their lives. His account moves, chapter by chapter, from disturbing images and acts of depraved brutality to moments of routine humanity colored by the culture and ethos of Iraq to acts of heroism and sacrifice to mundane moments of unremarkable routine. Not ...more

like

· see review

Aug 03, 2011

Mark Sequeira added it

A well-written, exciting, 'easy-to-like' book that is also pretty negative on America's impact/war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems to either have been written during (or from notes written during) the height of the insurgency so that might account for some of the negativity. Still, it gives an important counter-point to much of the 'everything is going swimmingly' accounts out there. (Are there such accounts out there?...Probably not in print anyway. Maybe talk radio?) I think the thing that I...more

like

· see review

Feb 09, 2009

Trena rated it

Recommended to Trena by: DC Public Library

I picked this book up from a library display because I really know nothing about the Iraq/Afghanistan war. The author is a reporter from the New York Times who spent some time in Afghanistan and several years in Iraq.

Although there is somewhat of an agenda to the book, it is not a treatise or in any way intended to be a policy statement or overall analysis of the war. It seems more to be a collection of anecdotes that never fit into any NYT stories. This works for me; like "...more

like

· see review

Jan 07, 2012

Merritt Phillips rated it

Very eye opening told by an eye witness to what really happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some great exerpts:

Iraq was a con game.

"They are all playing us", Kaifesh said, arching his eyebrows.

Democracy as we know it is a disease.

Overnight the Iraqi police, the Iraqi national guard and the Iraqi army disappeared.

"Abu Hishma Resident ID," the card said in English. Not a word was in Arabic.

"They tell their children...more

like

· see review

Jul 27, 2011

Wes Bishop added it

This is an amazing book. Shortlisted for the Pulitzer prize, Dexter Filkins account of the wars in Afghanistan to Iraq, plunges the reader into America's major military operations for the first decade of the 21st century. From the streets of Baghdad, to Taliban controlled Afghanistan, to ground zero in New York City, Filkins earns the readers trust from page one because unlike many writers he has no political ax to grind, no agenda to further. Instead he is a rare example of an honest to god rep...more

like

· see review

Oct 30, 2010

Gerald rated it

Shelves: books-on-tape, current-events, other-cultures

How dangerous is life in Iraq, Dexter Filkins, author of The Forever War, states that the NY Times is paying a $14,000 a month life insurance premium for him while he lives in Iraq. The book is full of frightening examples of the danger that exists, not just for an American journalist, but obviously for the soldiers but also for virtually every Iraqi.

In my opinion, rather than interpret the motives and meaning of what is taking place, Mr. Filkins reported on what he saw taking place...more

like

· see review

Feb 24, 2010

Matthew rated it

· review of another edition

Covers Filkins's time as a correspondent (for the LAT and NYT) in Taliban-era (1998-2000) Afghanistan, the 9/11 attacks on New York, the US post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan, with the bulk of the book covering the period after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

I've read a couple of books now in the "Iraq - WTF?" genre. The best have been Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Washington Post correspondent Thomas Ricks and Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad's Green Zone ...moreCovers Filkins's time as a correspondent (for the LAT and NYT) in Taliban-era (1998-2000) Afghanistan, the 9/11 attacks on New York, the US post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan, with the bulk of the book covering the period after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

I've read a couple of books now in the "Iraq - WTF?" genre. The best have been Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Washington Post correspondent Thomas Ricks and Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Baghdad's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran (currently WP editor). The two are kind of complementary: Fiasco is primarily a high-level insider's account of the institutional tension between the Pentagon and the White House during the 2003 invasion and its aftermath, whereas Emerald City provides a ringside seat to the slow-motion cl*sterf*ck that was the post-invasion reconstruction effort. (Emerald City would be high comedy if it wasn't so tragic. It's apparently being made into a movie with Matt Damon.)

Filkins adds the street-level view. The perspective of ordinary Afghans and Iraqis, G.I.s and Marines, politicians and religious leaders. The book's strength is Filkins's objective tone and pared-down prose. His subjects' words and actions speak for themselves. The misplaced hope of the well-educated men attending a candidates' pre-election meeting (most of whom would be killed or forced to flee Iraq shortly thereafter). The legal adviser explaining to Marines the rules of engagement for the invasion of Fallujah (and the mere moments it took for the rules to become completely irrelevant). The relief of a Christian family loading into a car headed for Jordan after receiving death threats from their Shiite neighbours. The nihilism of the jihadis. Harrowing reading punctuated by fleeting moments of humanity and optimism.

There's a continuing metaphor throughout of Filkins going for his evening runs along the Tigris. The insane American, noting a new blast wall here, a new checkpoint there, making friends where he could and trying not to get killed. I'm frankly amazed Filkins survived to write this book.(less)

like

· see review

Nov 08, 2009

Emily rated it

Shelves: 2009

I expected this book, a NYT reporter's stories of Iraq and Afghanistan between 2000 and 2006, to be a chore or a penance, like The Dark Side. While it's disturbing in its own way, it's a gripping read, more Black Hawk Down than political analysis. Filkins may have been fundamentally an observer but he manages to write about his experiences in a way that draws the reader into the middle of the action.

Filkins was sent to report on the Taliban before 9/11, and the book opens with him witn...more

like

· see review

Oct 24, 2009

John Thomas rated it

I'd highly recommended this book for anyone who wants a gritty, intelligent account of what it's like on the ground in war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan. If the author ever wore rose colored glasses, he took them off when he wrote this book, and smashed them apart with a sledge hammer. This does not read like a history book. It begins with Filkin's beautifully written first-hand account of the invasion of Fallujah. It ends with a description of a bunch of former Iraqi informants for the New York Tim...more

like

· see review

Oct 24, 2009

Paul Sheckarski rated it

Filkins has drawn upon decades’ worth of journalistic experience in Afghanistan and Iraq to craft a book of current affairs so vivid that you’re as likely to find it on the memoir or poetry shelves as in the history section.

At face value the title seems overtly leftist, but Filkins has had his fill of partisanship. He has seen the consequences of both too much government and too little; the consequences of American intervention and of isolation. The title works on many levels, the mo...more

like 1 like

· see review

Sep 25, 2009

Kay Fair rated it

Named one of the "10 best books of 2008" by the New York Times and brandishing a National Book Critics Circle Award, The Forever War by journalist Dexter Filkins has been leering at me from my Need-To-Read list for quite some time. "Consider the source," I warned myself as I first cracked it open; bracing myself for the far, far, far left wing swing I expected from a book written by a former reporter for both the L.A. and New York Times. "Be patient," my inner voice...more

like 1 like

· see review

Jul 23, 2009

Alan rated it

At a time when the newspaper industry is in an unprecedented crisis and many wonder whether it will survive, Dexter Filkins provides a powerful argument for the immensely important service that brave newspaper correspondents perform for all of us.
Filkins survived four hair-raising years in Iraq from the 2003 invasion. This vivid collection of essays tells us exactly what happened as a result of Bush's historic miscalculation.
With Filkins, we are there with the U.S. Marines as they ...moreAt a time when the newspaper industry is in an unprecedented crisis and many wonder whether it will survive, Dexter Filkins provides a powerful argument for the immensely important service that brave newspaper correspondents perform for all of us.
Filkins survived four hair-raising years in Iraq from the 2003 invasion. This vivid collection of essays tells us exactly what happened as a result of Bush's historic miscalculation.
With Filkins, we are there with the U.S. Marines as they storm Falluja; we cower in the Green Zone and in the heavily-fortified New York Times Baghdad bureau; we venture into the madness of Ramadi, where snipers and other insurgents pin down U.S. troops in a fetid room. Filkins seems totally at home with U.S. troops and tries, despite his lack of Arabic, to get inside the heads of the Iraqis as well. He is honest about his reliance on translators who more than once save his life. One does get the feeling Filkins himself became addicted to the danger and adrenaline rush of covering the war and the insurgency and started to take foolish and unnecessary risks.
This book doesn't try to analyse the war or the geopolitical context; it doesn't provide a chronological account of developments. Filkins is like a human camera, recording, painting with words. His pictures say more about the chaos unleashed by the U.S. invasion, the collapse of civil society and the immense suffering of the Iraqi people as the law of the jungle takes over. Filkins is also a compassionate guide through this circle of hell; he feels for the young Americans dying for who knows what, as well as for the Iraqis whose lives are destroyed.
His portrait of Paul Bremer, who for a disaxtrous year ran the country, is devastating. Bremer shows up at a hospital and reels off a list of statistics demonstrating how much better life has become in Iraq. Meanwhile premature babies are dying because of lack of electricity. "I don't like seeing this at all," says Bremer, looking down at a tiny, shriveled body.
It's a suitable metaphor. We don't like seeing this either but we must. If you want to know the truth about what the United States did to Iraq, read this. (less)

like

· see review

Apr 09, 2009

Michael VanZandt rated it

This book is chilling. It is not quite like anything else I have ever read before. Although, at times, I was reminded of All Quiet on the Western Front, with its sheer honesty and the inevitable spiral to chaos. Dexter Filkins was a foreign correspondent with the New York Times, and was on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq, when the bad got really, really bad. The vast majority of this book describes his experience in Iraq for the four years he lived the dying city of Baghdad.

Th...more

like

· see review

Jun 05, 2009

Pat rated it

This is a great book.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., said that "it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived." By that standard, Dexter Filkins has earned a very high grade.

In the epilogue, Filkins says he was "flattened" by his experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's a good description. The tone of the book is almost laconic in spite of the vividly brutal events it often rec...more

like 1 like

· see review

title link	preview: The Forever War
avg rating	preview: The Forever War Goodreads rating: 4.30 (2151 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2517439.The_Forever_War?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320478597m/2517439.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2517439.The_Forever_War?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Forever War by Dexter Filkins[/url]

The Forever War

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (12)

Genres

Readers Also Enjoyed

Books by Dexter Filkins

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About The Forever War

Groups That Shelved The Forever War

The Forever War

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combine Other Editions (12)

Genres

Readers Also Enjoyed

Books by Dexter Filkins

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About The Forever War

Groups That Shelved The Forever War

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (12)